Charlie Dent: A Republican Moderate (Gasp)

By FRANCIS X. CLINES

2015.02.27
07:56

Political moderates are so near extinction in the hard-edged House Republican caucus that Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania is practically a miracle of ornithology — that rare bird called a G.O.P. centrist whose forthright call is something to hear. The congressman has become the go-to quote guy for journalists as he openly, almost joyously, criticizes the new Republican majority’s failure to get much done because of its dedicated avoidance of political compromise.

“Week one, we had a Speaker election that did not go as well as a lot of us would have liked,” Mr. Dent said last month in summary of what he skewered as the new majority’s dithering despite its promise to voters to get off to a fast start. “Week two, we got into a big fight over deporting children, something that a lot of us didn’t want to have a discussion about. Week three, we are now talking about rape and incest and reportable rapes and incest for minors,” he continued in exasperation. “I just can’t wait for week four.”

By this week, Mr. Dent was warning House Republicans they had better realize that they, and not President Obama, would be blamed by the public if their unyielding opposition to his liberalized immigration orders caused the Department of Homeland Security to be shutdown. “It’s important that we go about avoiding these types of cliffs or showdowns that, in my view, won’t end well for us Republicans,” the congressman told The Hill. “They will damage us as we move into a presidential year and damage our likely presidential nominees.”

This may be conventional wisdom by now in many Washington circles but not yet in the Republican caucus. “Somebody told me, ‘You don’t know what the Senate will pass.’ Well, I know what the hell the Senate is not going to pass — they’re not going to pass the bill we sent them.”

Mr. Dent is from a swing district with, so far, no Tea Party insurgent in sight on his right flank, which may bolster his political candor.

“I write my own talking points,” he told The Hill in case there was any doubt.